Welbeck 'saw himself playing for Arsenal'

Wednesday 03 September 2014

New Arsenal signing Danny Welbeck has said he had pictured himself playing for the club while still at Manchester United after he expressed his delight at the deal, the BBC is reporting.

The England striker joined the Gunners on transfer deadline day in a £16m transfer, leaving the club he had been at since the age of eight.

Welbeck broke into the first team after a loan spell with Sunderland and went on to make 142 appearances for United, scoring 29 goals for his boyhood club.

However, the 23-year-old believes this is the next stage in his football development and couldn’t contain his excitement.

He told the club’s official website: “I've envisaged myself playing in this team before. For it to finally happen is very exciting.

“I've been at United ever since I was a little boy and I had a great time there.

“I just think this is the next stage of my development - to come to Arsenal, to really show people what I can do as a footballer and hopefully get to the place where I want to be.

“I really do believe that coming to Arsenal is the right decision.”

Welbeck was linked with a move to Arsenal’s North London rivals Tottenham also after he found himself dropping down the pecking order at Old Trafford.

Louis van Gaal then brought in Radamel Falcao on deadline day, prompting the move away for the striker.

Arsene Wenger dipped back into the transfer market after his main option Olivier Giroud was ruled out until the new year – with Yaya Sanogo, Joel Campbell and Lukas Podolski not considered strong enough options – and an experiment to play Alexis Sanchez as a striker proving fruitless.

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